The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) announced Monday that students who fail to appear for both Term-1 and Term-2 examinations will not be allowed to sit for compartment exams this year and have to repeat the class.
In a live webinar ahead of the CBSE term-2 exam from April 26, Sanyam Bhardwaj, the board’s controller of examinations, said that students who were marked absent in term-1 exams and do not appear for term-2 exams will not be allowed to take the compartment exams because “all class 12 compartment exams are conducted on the same day.” For class 10, the compartment exams are conducted in time period of 7 days.
As a relaxation amid covid, the board had last year provided a provision for candidates in the ‘essential repeat’ category to appear for the compartment exams. Students who fail to appear or score minimum passing marks in three or more subjects are placed in the ‘essential repeat’ category.
However, those who appear for exams in either of the two terms will receive a grade based on their performance in one of them. Besides, if a student is not able to take all the exams and appears for only three to four of them because of Covid-19, then they may receive the results under a special scheme. “The alternate grading scheme will be decided by the board at the appropriate time and will be in favour of students,” added Bhardwaj.
Conditions under which students will receive their board exam results:
- Appeared for term-1 exams but absent in term-2 exams
- Appeared for term-2 exams but absent in term-1 exams
- Appeared for all papers in term-1 but fails to appear for 1 or 2 papers in term-2
- Appears for all papers in term-2 but failed to appear for 1 0r 2 papers in term-1
CBSE also said that schools will receive special funding to provide basic facilities to students taking Term-2 exams. The board has announced that each school will receive Rs 2 per candidate every day for providing safe drinking water to students taking board exams.
Schools have also been directed to make exam centres secure and to make plans to adhere to protocol. Schools will be paid Rs 5000 for Covid-related arrangements, as well as Rs 5 per candidate every day for providing sanitiser, hand wash, and exam centre sanitisation.
The Term-2 board exams will be held at over 7,412 centres, of which 7,279 are in India and 133 are situated overseas. “The exam centres this year have been increased by 1,500 as compared to previous years to follow Covid protocols,” said Bhardwaj.
No more than 18 students will be allowed to sit in one classroom during the Term-2 board exams. “Three students in one row and a maximum of 18 students will sit in one classroom. Some schools are sharing concerns regarding adjacent students receiving the same sets of question papers, but we need to understand that the arrangement is to ensure students’ safety,” he added.
The CBSE term-2 exams for both classes 10 and 12 will begin on April 26. The Class 12 exam will begin with entrepreneurship and beauty and wellness papers on April 26 and end with the Psychology paper on June 15. The exam will start at 10:30 am and it will be conducted in one shift only. The Term-2 exams for Class 10 will end on May 24.